Wednesday, April 30, 2014

Talking about the entertainment industry these days is never complete without the mention of Johnny's talents such as SMAP and Arashi, and there is not a single day that you do not see them on TV. The person who discovered all of them is Johnny's head honcho himself, Johnny Kitagawa.He may be 82 years old now, but he's still up and about. An entertainment industry insider comments: "He's still so full of energy. He's really young. He still watches the Junior kids perform on stage, and his theatrical producing ability is still irreplaceable. And the thing that he's concerned about the most right now is the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. We still don't know what he has in mind for it, but we're sure that he's all pumped up for the event. People have been talking about who will succeed him for the longest time, but the guessing games seem to have died down as of late due to this new goal that they have.".There have already been numerous reports made about a couple of Johnny's executives struggling for control within the company, and it seems that these reports have momentarily taken a backseat thanks to this enthusiasm that Johnny himself has been showing. But the main reason why it's said that "Johnny's will cease to exist without Johnny-san himself" is because of his excellent eye for talent.All Johnny's talents need to go through the process of becoming Juniors and build up experience through theater plays and concerts until they make their CD debut, and Johnny himself selects those Juniors.A certain industry insider reveals: "No one in Johnny's immediately makes his full-blown debut after passing the auditions. They all get accepted with the premise that they need to undergo a development process, which naturally means that children in their pre-teens to early teens are the ones who take these auditions. But it's not easy choosing boys in their early teens as people's faces develop and change through the years. It's the same with all these former child stars who were once popular but aren't having as much luck as adults. But people have been saying that only Johnny-san has the ability to foresee how these boys will look like when they become adults. And this is a talent that no other top brass within the company possesses.".This is also why it's said that "in the case of an unfortunate event, the agency will have no other choice but to keep on doing their business with the current crop of talents that they have, since they won't have the ability to discover new talents through auditions anymore".

Monday, April 28, 2014

It was revealed on the 25th that Shoko Nakagawa (28), a.k.a. Shokotan, is in a relationship with actor Ryota Ozawa (26). This is Nakagawa's first romantic relationship in her 12 years in the industry. Ozawa was the main character in the tokusatsu series Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV Asahi 2011~2012) and played the role of Gokai Red.Nakagawa has previously declared that the man of her dreams was Vegeta of Dragonball. The person who caught her heart was a "Space Pirate", a bad boy protagonist rarely seen in tokusastsu flicks.And their cupid of love was one of her beloved feline friends. According to an insider, the two met each other at a gathering of cat-loving celebrities 2 years ago. The two grew closer to each other when Nakagawa saved a cat from being put down as Ozawa helped her find a new owner for the cat. Their relationship blossomed into a romantic one at the beginning of this year.Nakagawa is a major cat-lover who takes care of 10 cats at her home and has even titled her autobiographical essayNeko no Ashiato (Footsteps of a Cat). Ozawa also revealed on his blog that he bought a cat-shaped piggy bank back in February and wrote, "I like dogs, but cats are cute too", seemingly having been influenced by Nakagawa.Nakagawa has made a lot of romantic declarations these past 1 to 2 years, and said at her birthday concert in 2012 that: "I have never had any romantic relationships in the past 10 years, and I want to put an end to this situation". During the screening event of her movie Nuiguruma-Z in January, she also mentioned that she wants to "leave an offspring behind".She once revealed a number of conditions that one would have to meet in order to become her boyfriend: 1) Loves cats, 2) Better than me at video games, 3) Has a beautiful kicking form, 4) can swing the nunchaku, 5) has old scars or fresh wounds. It's unknown if Ozawa fulfills conditions 2~4 but based on his role as "Captain Marvelous", there's a possibility that he also meets conditions 3~5.Following her first leading role in the movie Nuiguruma-Z, Nakagawa is currently seen in NHK's Gunshi Kanbee. She also has an upcoming movie TOKYO TRIBE which will be shown in August, and has been busy as of late with her acting career. She also has an upcoming birthday concert on May 4 and 5 at the Maihama Ampitheater. People will be anticipating how she will announce her relationship at this event. Ozawa on the other hand, has been cast for the leading role in the upcoming movie Akira No.2, which is slated for an autumn release.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Johnny's WEST member Ryusei Fujii (20) reportedly brought a 20-something woman from Osaka into a hotel, demanded her to drink alcohol, and sexually assaulted the woman; as revealed by the victim herself on the May 1 issue of Bunshun.Johnny's WEST is a 7-member group who just made their debut on April 23 with the single "Eejanaika".Fujii was a minor aged 18 at the time of the act but was seen smoking and drinking in the picture that is published by Bunshun. A wasted Fujii also destroyed the woman's cellphone with his bare hands on the same day.Johnny's Jimusho is known to be strict with underaged members who drink and smoke. Bunshun tried to obtain comments from the Jimusho but got no response.

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Last week's issue of Josei Seven reported that V6's Go Morita is in a relationship with "an ex-gravure model who hails from Hokkaido", but the current issue of Shuukan Josei has reported that he is cohabiting with popular AV starlet Alice Miyuki.According to Seven's article last week, Morita met up with a woman at a tonkatsu restaurant after his theater rehearsals and went on to a nearby movie house to watch Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind which was shown for 3 days only. The magazine published pictures of the two and said that they have been together for a year now -- even going to Miyakojima for a holiday and shopped for interior goods at a new furniture shop -- without revealing the identity of the woman."Seven is known to have a good working relationship with Johnny's, and there's a possibility that they deliberately chose not to disclose the details about the partner. However, some people on the Internet assumed from the pictures that this was Miyuki, and evidence was found on Miyuki's Twitter account that she indeed had a date with Morita. Morita's fans took no time to attack Miyuki and bombard her with heartless remarks." - (tabloid journalist)Shuukan Josei published an article with pictures of the two walking the dog and of Miyuki coming out of Morita's apartment. When the journalist ambushed the two as they came back home, Morita denied the relationship but said: "Wait a second, I won't run away." "You can use my picture, and I don't mind you publishing my name in the article, but just keep her out of this since there'll be a lot of complications", probably thinking about the bashing that she will be receiving from his fans."Johnny's and Shuukan Josei are on bad terms, and it's a rarity for a Johnny's talent to even give proper answers to the publication, but that just goes to show how much he wanted to defend Miyuki. Morita's manliness is commendable, but he'll probably get an earful from his agency." - (showbiz writer)Morita's fans might be better off refraining from bashing Miyuki.

Nanami Sakuraba (21) and all the other members of girls unit bump.y are scheduled to "graduate" from the group at the end of June to all focus on their acting career.The official website reads: "Thank you all for supporting bump.y since its inception in 2009. Please keep on cheering for and supporting the members so that all of them will become splendid actresses and flourish in their respective careers.".bump.y was formed in October 2009 and consists of Sakuraba, Mary Matsuyama (21), Mio Miyatake (17), Matsuri Miyatake (14), and Sara Takatsuki (16). The unit hails from Sweet Power, agency of talents such as Maki Horikita and Meisa Kuroki. They debuted in August of 2010 with the single "voice", and have released a total of 7 singles and 3 albums.

Actress Rena Nounen has been cast to play the lead in the movie adaptation of the popular manga Kuragehime (scheduled for a December 2014 release). She plays the role of an otaku who loves jellyfish. Starring alongside her are Masaki Suda, playing the role of a good-looking young man whose hobby is cross-dressing, and Hiroki Hasegawa, who plays the role of the virgin ikemen elite who has a fear of women. Nounen comments on the upcoming otaku role and says: "I'm currently thinking hard how I should be playing this role in order to make the viewers enjoy the movie".The manga of the same name started publication in 2008 and has circulated over 2.7M copies to date (Vol. 1~13). The manga won 3rd place in the 2011 "Kono manga wa sugoi!" female division awards and was also adapted into anime in 2010 (Fuji).The story revolves around a group of otaku women who call themselves the "Amars"--- terrified of men, who live in an apartment called Amamizukan, where men are off limits. When the main character gets in trouble with a tropical fish shop one day, she is suddenly saved by a fashionable girl. This fashionable girl would start going to the apartment, but it turns out that this girl is actually a cross-dressed boy, as the story starts focusing on the development of their peculiar friendship.The other wotas residing in the apartment will be played by Chizuru Ikewaki (Train-wota), Rina Ohta (Romance of the 3 Kingdoms-wota), Tomoe Shinohara (Kare-sen; or wota of mature, old men) and Azusa Babazono (Japanese clothes-wota).Taisuke Kawamura (Himitsu no Akko-chan, Nodame Cantabile the Final Score Part 2) will be calling the shots, as filming is scheduled to begin in May.

Gravure idol Anna Konno (24) was at Sofmap in Akihabara for the release of her latest DVD Anna Oneechan (\4,104).Konno started out when she won the Nittelegenic 2012 award and has seen heavy exposure in magazines and TV ever since. This 10th DVD of hers, which was shot in Saipan in November last year, has a theme of Anna as the older sister enticing the viewer who is the "younger brother".Konno dazzled the media by wearing a bikini for the event. She commented on the DVD: "I played the role of a naughty sister who would entice her younger brother." "Watch out for the part where I'm wearing a school uniform. I don't get to wear one anymore due to my age, but my wish has been granted. I wore a sailor outfit and blew into a recorder. It's been a while since I played a recorder so I wasn't able to do it well (laughs)."When she was asked about her relationship with her actual brother, she said: "He'll be in 4th grade this coming school year, but I still hug and kiss him. We also get into the bath together, so it's pretty much the same as this.".

Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Pole dancing is a form of performance art centered around a vertical pole, but is still strongly associated with strip clubs.Hello! Pro idol group ℃-ute recently tried their hand at pole dancing but was met with dissatisfaction from a lot of their fans. It looks like idol fans are not too excited about steamy performances.℃-ute's 2014 spring concert tour ℃-ute no honne kicked off at the Gotanda U-Port Hall in Tokyo, and the digest of their first show was featured on Hello! Pro's YouTube original program Hello! Sute (station).Members Saki Nakajima (20) and Mai Hagiwara (18) danced on the poles for their song "Crazy kanzen na otona". Other members Maimi Yajima (22), Airi Suzuki (19), and Chisato Okai (19) performed on the steps set up on the stage.Wearing black shiny tops with their navels exposed and skimpy bottoms, Nakajima and Hagiwara proceeded to wrap their bodies around the poles and even spread their legs open. The remaining three members sported hats similar to police hats and would sit down on the steps and caress their thighs.Nakajima and Hagiwara commented on this within the program and said, "We discussed the moves with sensei and trained hard for a month", but there seems to be quite a number of fans who are not pleased with this.YouTube's comments section have mixed reactions, with some saying, "So cool!", "I couldn't help ogling at this", while others have said, "Is this a strip show or something?", "It's nice that they're trying something new, but I'm not digging the skimpy outfit and dance routine...", "No matter how you turn this around, this performance is just trying to sexually entice the fans. I'm not too sure if idols need to go to this extent to emphasize their sex appeal.", "I feel it's such a waste that ℃-ute has to resort to cheap and indecent things like this. These girls can surely take others on with their natural and fresh sexiness...".Hello! Pro previously had a sexy group V-u-den, which had ex-Morning Musume Rika Ishikawa as a member. They were known for their bunny girl costumes and chair dances. There was also a time when Maki Goto started wrapping herself around a mic stand during a concert, reminiscent of a pole dance. And needless to say that some fans criticized those antics as well.

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Cute, short-haired talents have been dominating the industry as of late. Standing out from the rest of the crowd are Ayame Gouriki (21), Rena Nounen (20), and Tsubasa Honda. These three have been in heavy demand in commercials. Nounen was recently appointed last February by Canon as their image model for their new mirrorless digital camera, while Honda promotes Nikon's "Nikon 1" line. Gouriki on the other hand has recently been named by video research as the 2013 commercial queen, most known for her Yamazaki Pan's lunch pack commercial.Showbiz commentator Masaaki Hiruma explains why short hair is the current trend:"Food and makeup products which tend to use young actresses as endorsers give emphasis to the pure and cheerful image that these talents bring. This is why it's easier for them to appoint talents with short hair. Judging by the male roles in Takarazuka, we can see this trend where female consumers actually prefer talents with short hair, which makes these girls that much easier to utilize as endorsers.".Hiruma continues: "Some of the big names have always sported shorter hair, ever since back in the day. There was Momoe Yamaguchi, Junko Sakurada, and even Sayuri Yoshinaga had short hair. These days, people like Yoko Maki, Hikari Mitsushima, and Chiaki Horan have been standing out. Short is also the default for casters who require a more clean image. Even Christel Takigawa and Miku Natsume have short hair. Extremely beautiful women actually look better with long hair. Short suits those who have more unique looks.".There's no doubt that short hair has been the driving force of the success of these three. So will these short-haired actresses show further "growth"?